A slight misnomer in the title – as to be honest playtime will be the next post of this saga.
I am going to cover our study/guest room plus the family bathroom today.
Firstly an update on what’s been happening – we had over the main suppliers (and their families) for a barbecue this past week. It is nice to actually relax and socialise with people that you spend so much time working with. The reason for the year (plus) delay was that I was waiting for my smoker to arrive (plus then some time to get comfortable using it) before inviting them. Maybe not so interesting to you – but the meat menu was smoked ribs and homemade sausages plus normal (bbq) grilled sausages, burgers and chicken wings – plus the standard paraphernalia of complementary cuisine and drinks.
I am not sure if I mentioned this in the last blog – but our intercom system has stopped working. I called the alarm company that installed it and they want an annual support fee for the cameras, intercom and alarm – the price was “Al Hapanim” (“al hapanim” approximately is used for “way over the top”) – so I called the electrician that installed our network and sound system. He will come for free and check the system out – at that point we will get a price and make a decision.

On to the rooms – We will be starting with the study. This room is also used as our main guest bedroom. The main negative from this room is that it is sandwiched between the two boys rooms (one next door and the other opposite).

The first two photos show the study as it was when we bought the house. Like all the rooms – this one changed size and shape but we also completely moved the position of the cupboards as can be seen in later photos.
The next photo was the destruction of the study.
Like the phoenix – out of destruction comes rebirth (although a lot slower in this case). The photo of the walls being built is from the stairs and the study is on the right hand side of the picture. The other photo speaks for itself.
After the windows were installed I took photos of all of them. This photo below shows the light fitting as well – and so I have included it as we really struggled to find these lights. We were looking for a really common UK light fixture that uses multiple spots (3 or 4) and swivels easily to point wherever you want them. This light was the nearest that we could find. We used them in all the upstairs rooms (except the playroom)
The following two photos are professional and therefore are using “props” that we do not have or use in the house….

On to the bathroom – possibly the most used room in the house……
As normal, I am starting with the beginning. This was the area as it first was – a bedroom. This is the area that you can most easily see how much we changed the interior layout of the house. Everyone who went into the old building could not understand the waste of space that we turned into a bathroom and tv/playroom. You can see part of that transformation below.
Again, we started with the destruction and moved on to the building – not a surprise really.
Below is the first interesting feature. We had to drop the ceiling so that we could put the air conditioning manifold in this area. Every air conditioning pipe for every unit in the house is connected here – that is 9 units in the house plus the compressor unit of the roof.
The bath was almost the first thing installed – this is shown after protection in the photo below.
The photo below shows the area which will become our utility room – it is small, but has plenty of storage. The only thing missing is a sink – but it is next to the bathroom so there isn’t far to go.
After installing the bath we started the tiling. This can be seen in the two photos below.
Below is our sink and vanity unit.
The following 3 photos are professional and so once again have props that are not ours. Our bathroom in real life does not look like it is in an expensive restaurant or hotel – honest (especially after the kids’ rushed morning ablutions….)

That’s all for today.

This is possibly the penultimate post. The next post will include the 2 indoor play areas. Depending on the number of photos I may include photos of the roof. I may include it in another post.
We have not covered in this blog the rental unit that we have downstairs.

OK, so after the kitchen obviously comes the dining area. But first, an update. There have been very few changes. I fixed the garage barrier, bought a chain saw and have started cutting logs. We have also ordered our garden furniture as Greens had an ex-display teak table/chair set on sale for half price – and we couldn’t resist. We also bought an umbrella for this set plus an aluminium table/chair set for two to put in the garden outside our bedroom.
We also bought a swinging chair for the balcony outside Natanel’s room. This was always promised as a bonus to getting the smallest room in the house.

So, on to the dining area photos – the first two are at purchase and after destruction….

With the floor basically missing we started on the process of building the house systems, in the first photo below you can see the electricity and air conditioning cables/gas lines being laid. The second photo shows the underfloor heating (which is still not working as it should) being laid.

After the house systems were installed – the tiling has to be laid. The small stones are used to protect the heating pipes.

This photo shows two separate stages. The first is the plaster skeleton used as a base for the dining room carpentry as well as colour samples that we took around the house when choosing our paint colours.

The most important part of the house. The windows. We waited months and months for these and they were definitely the turning point of the work as once we had a closed house we could start the finishing process and add items that we didn’t want stolen.

The following two photos show the finished article – both as it is every day and when ready for guests.

Who else could I be speaking about – except for Hermetix. They promised installation and failed and failed again. I am starting with the area where this affected me the most – the basement.

Tenants – The tenants were supposed to be moving in today. They were told a couple of months ago that it would be very tight. A week ago we told them it would be an extra couple of days. I do not currently know how long until they move in as I am waiting for two main areas as will be explained below. The tenants’ main issue was that they had to leave their current property and therefore they needed to store everything. They are using the apartment for that without issues and they are currently staying with family. It says something about how difficult it is to get a good apartment that they are willing to “live” with the delayed real start date.

Basement Front door – We had the kablan (contractor) arrange for new facias and lock to be installed onto the existing front door. This has been done (white on the inside and I guess grey on the outside – the guess is because I saw it at night without any lights). It did look good though.

Basement Tiling – The kitchen splashback was completed and all grouting has now been done.

Basement Electricity – All lights have been installed, all sockets and switches have been completed. The only electrics that need doing is “covering” of the heater cables in the bathroom as I do not want these and the labeling of each circuit fuse switch in the electricity box for clarity. The electrician specifically came to the house on Friday (weekend here) to complete this part of the installation.

Basement Windows – The basement windows and patio door have now been completed.

Air conditioning – The 4 air conditioning units and base unit have been installed.

Cleaning – The kablan did basic cleaning of the basement. It wasn’t amazing but it was acceptable.

Protective bars – We are now onto the areas left to do. The protective bars around the basement windows/patio door needs to be returned/replaced. This hasn’t been done yet. It is cheaper to add the bars than to install an alarm.

Vanity Unit – Everybody has been nagging for the vanity unit to be installed in the bathroom for the last 2 weeks. We have been told today that it will be installed on Wednesday.

Plumbing – The hot water (pumps/hot water tank and solar heat collectors) are being installed tomorrow. The final plumbing connections in the kitchen haven’t been completed either. I may offer to do them myself tomorrow to speed things up!

Gas Points (inside and out) – These are being installed on Thursday by Amisragas. They are supposed to be giving ballonim (gas canisters) as well – just not sure if that is at the same time or on the following Sunday (normal delivery day).

Interior doors – These were supposed to be installed on Sunday but Hermetix did it again….they failed to deliver what they had promised. The kablan was waiting for the doors so that he could do the last finishing touches, but the Hermetix installer was sick yesterday and today so the doors haven’t gone in. I am not sure that the installer is sick – I have a feeling that the doors just aren’t ready. I have been told that the company feels very bad and that this is the first time that anyone has heard them apologise for anything (although they didn’t bother calling us to apologise – nor offer any compensation however small). We still do not know when we are getting the doors as the company wishes to use the “best” installer that they have. It doesn’t make us feel any better. We feel really guilty that the tenants are being messed around so much.

That’s enough for the basement, on to the rest of the house, starting outside and moving in and up.

Garden – The water feature, stepping stones and watering system have been installed. Most of the fence netting has been installed except for where the neighbour was complaining. We are going to wait until we have cameras looking at that part of the garden in case what we do doesn’t gain her approval.

Front door – Hermetix did actually manage to get one thing installed on time – the front door. It is due to the front door and windows being installed that so much has been done in the last week.

Windows – All windows and doors have been installed now. Andersen are hoping to complete the “finishing” tomorrow with the single exception of the painting of the wooden doors. They have a specific worker who specialises in this part of the project. Andersen are planning on walking through the whole project with me tomorrow afternoon. The painting will be organised in the next couple of days.

Concrete – The concrete was installed both in the garage and for the play area. The garage looks great, but the play area has white streaks on it – I am not sure if this is related to dirt or some other issue.

Electrics – The electrician continued with finishing off our electrics. He has not yet done the lights.

Alarm – The alarm is being partially installed tomorrow.

Smoke Alarms – after a confused discussion with the electrician we found out that we had approved for our smoke alarms to be wired into the alarm system (rather than separate battery operated units). This will also be done as part of the alarm installation.

Network – We have a quote for the installation of the hard and wifi network. We also need to arrange for an internet provider to give us connection at the house.

Gas Points – This is the same as the basement. Our points will be installed on Thursday, the only difference is that we do not yet have an oven as they need a point to install it. Therefore we will not be given our ballonim and will have to call the gas company back the following week (more money!)

Hot water – as in the basement, our hot water is being installed tomorrow. Our underfloor heating air pump will be installed at the same time.

Counter Tops – Our kitchen counter tops and sinks were installed.

Under sink waste disposal – We ordered an “insinkerator” from a US exporter that specialises in 240V appliances. It arrived last week and was collected yesterday after VAT was charged on the item plus shipping costs.

Fish tank – moving sideways (or forwards depending on perspective) we get to the fish tank. The wooden base has been installed and the glass tank is being made at the moment. When installed the carpenter can then create the unit around it.

Glass – The glass railing, mirrors and shower/bath doors were installed. The railing still needs a wooden top that the carpenter is not yet aware of!

Cleaning – this is booked for the 17th and 18th March. After this there will be very little “dirty” work to do. Mainly carpentry and “finishing” off.

Wardrobes – The wardrobes were booked for the 18th which is not possible due to the cleaning. The company has promised to do their best to get the wardrobes in on the 19th. It has not yet been confirmed though.

Study Paint – the kablan is including Magnetic paint for the area behind the desk in the study so that we can use it to hold company magnets and “post-it” notes.

Carpentry – we found out that the carpenter was working on the units for our garage. These are probably the lowest on our “order of importance”. We created a new list for him that included cupboards and public areas before the bits that are just for our personal storage!

Sofa bed – this has been ordered. Normally it takes 30 days plus – but as we need it for use on the 28th the company is trying to push it through quickly. I think they are trying to impress our designer as she hasn’t used them for about 6 months!

Deliveries – I wanted to arrange all deliveries for Tuesday 24th – but that would be too tight for us moving in. Instead I decided to do everything on the 19th but being in Israel this didn’t work. We now have our fridge, freezer and oven being delivered on the Wednesday (have arranged that kitchen cleaning is done first). Natanel’s bed is being installed on the 19th as is ideal (closets as well hopefully). The other beds are coming in on the twentieth. We also ordered today a new dishwasher and TV for the Wii – we do not yet know what day this will be delivered. The fun was arranging the delivery of the fridge freezer. We are getting a more European style and it comes in two units (separate fridge and freezer). The delivery company have it documented in their warehouse as two fridges rather than a fridge and freezer. The shop has promised me that the delivery company has it wrong and if there is an issue to call him. For those who need to buy large electrical items in Israel for the first time – be aware that once the item turns up you cannot even unpack it. You need to call a installation service – paid for by the manufacturer/shop – who install it for you. This confirms your warranty. If you unpack a fridge and plug it in yourself you have no warranty at all – even if it doesn’t work out of the box.

Moving – We have arranged for a removal company to move us on either the 24th or 26th March. We want the 26th but it is easier for them on either the 24th or 25th. They are only moving the large items as we will be moving the rest ourselves as we have overlapped the move and our rental by a whole month. We will not be moving our everyday kitchen until after pesach (We are moving into a brand new/clean pesachdik kitchen – and house – a really lucky side benefit of the timing).

Pesach presents – Israeli companies often give “bonus” presents for Rosh Hashana and Pesach. I was offered a set of choices and I decided to be nice to the boys (actually – it may be nicer to Joelle!) and I selected the fancy Karaoke machine which connects to the TV and will provide minutes of embarrassing fun.

That’s all for the week (except that which I forgot or am not aware of due to the protection of both designer and Kablan),

It has been a really busy and productive week. We have just 8 days to finish the basement until it is to be lived in – and only an extra 2.5 weeks after that until we move in. We know that the carpentry and probably the curtains will not be completed in time, but it looks like the majority of everything else will be done!

Here is where we currently stand:

Windows – the windows finally arrived at the warehouse on Tuesday and the installation started on Thursday. All the windows have been installed and two of the doors (no locks yet). We have 3 more doors to go but one of them will probably not be done until Tuesday as neither Yaniv nor Tamar (Kablan and designer) were aware that the door needed a shayish (literally marble – but possibly any stone) base. This will be installed tomorrow morning (if it was bought in the end) which will delay the installation slightly.
When I say that the windows/doors have been installed I am not being 100% accurate. The windows/doors have been secured in the correct places – they have done neither the cleaning up nor finishing of the units. This will take another week and we expect the whole installation to be finished by Wednesday next week.
There is one window that I looked at twice – there is a 5 cm gap on one side. When I checked about this – I was told that it was installed slightly smaller on purpose so that there would be space for the inside moldings. We were not aware of this when we signed off the windows. I am not sure that I am happy with this as the outside looks strange at the moment. We will make a final decision if we are happy once it has been completely installed and the gap filled in appropriately.
The last bit on this section is the exterior colour. We went with sandstone – mainly because we were told it is the best neutral colour. It definitely looked that way in the showroom, but when seen against our exterior stone we are not so sure and think that we would have been better off with white. We know that both Tamar and our gardener disagree with us (The gardener thinks they are the best looking windows he has seen in Ma’ale Adumim!) – but we both think this was one of those mistakes of understanding/conceptualisation that will always happen when doing such a large building project.

Doors – Adam went and confirmed the interior doors, something felt slightly different and not as good as the original door but we approved them anyway as we have had enough with this company and cannot give them an excuse to delay the installation any longer! We need those doors. If they keep to their promises (we are not holding our breaths) then the external door will be installed on Wednesday and the interior doors will be installed on Sunday and Monday next week.

Alarm – now that the windows are in the alarm needs to be installed next week. We are assuming that the intercom will have to wait as the front gate is not ready yet.

Garden Pond – this is now completed and looks really good except for one jar on the side. This will improve though as the gardener said this was for a hanging plant which should soften it a lot.

Gardener – The gardener has added some soil to our two planters in the mirpeset (balcony) by the lounge, he has also tidied up the wood for us and bought a splitting axe to be used when the wood is dry. He is installing the fences tomorrow. The stone for the paths in the garden are ready to install, but I am not sure when this is planned.

Fence – talking about the fence, our neighbour has decided that she does not like the idea of bamboo on her fence. She has asked that we use a fancy railing instead. The problem with this is that it will add at least an extra 5000NIS to the price. We have to ask her to pay substantially towards this as this is not something that we want anyway.

Concrete – We (well Tamar) chose a colour (that we approved). This was not really that important to us – but it needed to be done. The concrete is for a basketball court and the floor of the garage.

Counter Tops – The downstairs kitchen was installed and it looks great. The shayish person made a couple of matching trivets which we have stolen for our kitchen! At the same time he measured out our kitchen as well. This morning we had a very long discussion on where the counter tops would be cut (not where want as the length would be longer than the actual stone!) and how the edge would be finished. We still do not fully understand the difference but made a decision anyway! These are being installed in the next day or two as far as I am aware.

Splashback – The downstairs kitchen splashback has been started (and is almost finished).

Moldings – These were installed and look really good. They do a strange thing here where they actually glue and staple the moldings in place. I have been promised that these staples will not be visible at the end – so I am assuming they will be completely removed.

Electricity and lighting – Most of the switches and sockets (including some UK sockets) have been installed now. These actually consist of the switch plus the outside plate to finish it off. A couple of the plates have been installed but most haven’t as of yet. All the spot lighting has now been installed including the waterproof options in the bathrooms.

Network – Now that we have all the cables in the correct place – we have arranged for a quote for the network installation. We are doing this as it is very important for the music system and we also wish to move in with this working. I also have some bits already (24 port hub, wifi modem etc) that I wish to incorporate to save a little bit of money.

Glass – The mirrors, shower/bath enclosures and one railing are being installed tomorrow.

Fish tank – This is actually a lead into the carpentry – but that will come next. The carpenter (Dany), designer, kablan and aquarium guy (Uri) all met at the house to discuss and finalise the aquarium/bar unit. Unfortunately it was not something that could be done in one go. The short version is that the carpenter has to prepare a base from a single piece of wood (birch) and then give the exact measurements to the aquarium guy. The aquarium will then be made to these dimensions. This will take 14 working days – ie 3 weeks. After the aquarium installation, Dany can then measure and make the full unit for us.

Carpentry – I said the last item led on to here. See, there is a method to my madness. We spoke to Dany this afternoon and he was very pleased that the windows are going in to protect his work. He is currently working on my man-cave in the back of the garage.

Bathrooms – When Dany came to talk about the aquarium he also installed the vanity unit in the boys’ bathroom which had been left over from the week before.
The boys’ bathroom also has a toilet now and all of the bathroom shower/bath water fixtures have been installed. The downstairs bathroom still has the units that are being used by the workers – and will be changed this week.

Furniture – Two steps forward and one step back (sounds familiar). We have now ordered the sofas, table and all required material. The sample material is at the shop waiting to be collected as soon as possible. This will then be used to enable us to choose appropriate material for the kitchen counter stools that we have chosen (but not ordered). We did have a sofa bed from Joelle’s mum that was going to be put in the kid’s play room. She has decided that the main sofa she has was too big for her new apartment and so she is going to keep it in the end. We have seen a couple of possible options from a company called Dormir and we will order one in the next week or so.

Curtains – Once the windows are in – the curtain company will meet us at the house to finalise materials and to also measure everything out.

Photos – on the computer we have thousands of photos of the construction work that are just not organised. I am writing here publicly that I am hoping to organise them this week so that I can’t be as lazy as I have been with this task over the last 6 months!

Generally a productive week, hopefully with more to come over the next couple of weeks. The place has to be livable in 5 weeks’ time with tenants moving in in 3 weeks’ time. Now the pressure is going to start to build as everything is still waiting on …..

Windows – This was the step back. They were supposed to be at the supplier’s warehouse today, but there was a port strike in Haifa and the bad weather closed the port once the strike was over. We do know that the ship arrived on Tuesday – the day the strike started. We do not know if the windows came off the ship and are awaiting customs – or still on the boat. If still on the boat – then it is not still in the port as due to high winds all boats were sent out into the open sea. Once the port opens properly there will be a backlog – no idea for how long, nor where we are in the “queue”. On the good side – the windows are basically here and they weren’t travelling on snow laden roads in a truck. That really is a scenario we don’t want to think about. We have a week of good (or better) weather predicted from Motsei Shabbat and hopefully we will be able to start the work during this time. Everything “movable” is waiting on the windows and doors so that we have security in the house.

Doors – More problems with Hermetix. Tamar has told us they were causing trouble but will not elaborate further. It was something to do with the protective staining on the interior wood of the front door. They were probably asking for some more money and thought it was acceptable to provide unprotected wooden finishes with the Israeli sun and heat. We still haven’t been given the internal sample door to approve and time is moving on. Supposedly the front door will be installed on the 4th March with the internal doors on the 8th and 9th. As tenants are moving in on the 9th we really need them to manage these dates.

Garden – The gardener has returned from holidays in Thailand, China and Eilat (the life of a gardener during shmitta seems quite nice!) and has built the pond outside our bedroom and will be finishing off this water feature soon. He has carried up the stepping stone tiles as well which will be laid in the near future. He is looking into a price of a guillotine for us to cut up the logs in a lot quicker fashion.

Electricity/Rubbish Boxes – These were finished off with a little tiling and the current electricity box was put into the rubbish bin area. I called Yaniv (the Kablan) to ask why it was done this way – and he explained that we are actually getting a new (smaller) box from the electricity company which will go in the other area. Until then we cannot use the area for the bin!

Electricity – The electricity company finally received the last email that I sent them with my approval signature and they told me that I had to go to their office to pay due to the large amount. I finally did so on Wednesday. The Kablan said that the electricity company are allowed to change the price (always upwards) until the bill is paid. Afterwards they will not change the price – even if it costs them an extra 50,000 NIS for digging up roads etc. We are glad that we have paid. We now just have to wait for them to do all the work – which will probably be after we move in to the property.

Railings – The outside front railings were re-measured and the design re-finalised this week. The inside stair railings are in with a couple of provisos. The wooden handle has not been installed – it will be last after all painting is completed – and the extra supports which stop the railings from moving have not been installed either – so these railings are currently not safely useable. This will be fixed soon.

Hammock – The railin was installed – but was enough askew (supposedly due to a metal bar in the wall) that is was obviously not straight. When measured we noticed that on one edge there was a 1.5cm drop between the centre and the side. This has now been corrected and the actual hammock has been ordered. It will be available in about 2 weeks but will only go in after everything else in the room is completed – so that it does not get damaged by paint or air-con and other electrical (tv/speakers/lights etc) installations.

Downstairs Kitchen – They took away and replaced the cupboards that were the wrong size. The counter top is being installed on Sunday. One of the cupboard doors has got some paint on it – so it will up to the Kablan to clean this effectively or replace it.

Upstairs Kitchen – Our kitchen cupboard shells have been put in. The only doors that have been included are the pocket doors on the tall cupboard next to the fridge freezer. The other doors will be installed just before we move in to stop the workers using the kitchen as we are planning to move into a kosher for Pesach kitchen with absolutely no work. We are spending all this money – we might as well have some additional benefit from it! When the counter top person installs the downstairs Caesar-stone he will also measure our kitchen for the tops. The carpenter also took a sample handle so that he can put holes in the cupboard doors back in the workshop where there is more control.

Bathrooms – All the carpentry units for the bathrooms are ready and most of them have been installed. The guest toilet vanity and our en-suite units look fantastic. The boys’ bathroom unit is waiting to be installed – but is in the house.

Next Carpentry step – Dany the carpenter (actually a good English speaker) is coming on Monday to measure and finalise the aquarium unit. I am assuming that Tamar managed to arrange for Yaniv and Uri (Aquarium guy) to be there as well. At the same time they will finalise options for around the fireplace.

Painting – Almost the whole house now has a coat or two of paint. Natanel’s room is Man City sky blue (nobody’s perfect 🙂 ) and Ya’akov’s room is a really nice pastel green – he obviously now wants blue like his brother. We said hard luck!

Network – We were obviously charged a little bit extra to replace all the wiring as we have had to move the network cables but this has been done now. The advantage is that I now have about 30m of cat7 cable which I should be able to use to make spare ethernet cables (I would usually use cat 5 – but should work just as well). I already have ethernet connectors (rj45) and the appropriate crimping tool to do this myself. The additional dropped ceiling to transfer the wires has been added. It actually makes the entrance look more finished.

Moldings – These are being installed at the beginning of this week.

Furniture – Tamar has gathered together all the info for ordering the material we need for ottomans, chairs, piano stool and cushions etc. This order – with an order for the specific ottomans to connect our sofas will be going in today or Sunday.

Smoker/etc – I have made absolutely no progress on arranging the shipping of this (and a few other items). I really need to do this next week. If anyone out there can give us a lead for a reliable shipper from Austin, Texas it would really be appreciated…

We think that is it. We really did not realise we have so little time left until we have to move in. No wonder that Tamar is getting worried and pushing everyone constantly. We understand that not everything will be finished by the time that we move in – but the basics will be. The more utilitarian carpentry (like bookcases) will be completed afterwards. We have no choice but to move in as we have 6 friends coming to stay with us on the day that we move in!
Having space for guests to stay is an integral part of our house that we have sorely missed over the last five years.

As you can gather from the title, we have been having fun with the electric company since the last blog. Other than that everything is moving forward slowly but steadily as planned. We specifically do not want to be rushing forward as the Kablan doesn’t like stopping in the middle of a job – nor does he want to leave the house empty without windows or doors.

Front wall – I will start with the front and move backwards from there. We have cut into the front wall and made a couple of concrete boxes. One of these is for the electricity box which and the other is for the bin (garbage can for those needing a translation 🙂 ). We had a discussion with the Kablan about the advantages and disadvantages of putting a cover on these boxes. The main advantages are that the kids can use the cover as a seat plus it stops people walking on the street using it as a dumping ground. The disadvantage is that we will have to leave the house to be able to throw out the rubbish. We pointed out to the Kablan that we were having metal railings over this area – so even without a cover we would have to leave the house anyway. We have a cover.

Electricity – We were told that we haven’t signed the document permitting the electricity company to do the work. They said that we had been sent it – but we couldn’t find it. So, they tried to send it to my fax – which didn’t accept it due to a transmission error. So they sent it again. After a week I hadn’t received it and so I called again. I was actually working from home so I arranged for it to be faxed to my work and a colleague scanned it in and emailed it to me. I printed it – and we hadn’t received it before. I took it to my Kablan to check everything and he couldn’t believe the price, so he directly called the engineer that did the site check to confirm there were no mistakes. The engineer noted that he had actually given us a large discount as the Kablan was doing some of the work for him. The price was unfortunately correct. We faxed the form – it wasn’t received. We emailed it – and I when I checked to confirm that it had arrived – I was informed that the address I was given was incorrect and to send it to the correct address. It was bounced back. I faxed it again – this time from work – and it failed again. I looked at the email that was bounced back and realised that I had a number incorrect. I sent it again but haven’t confirmed that it had arrived. I didn’t confirm as I was told that the amount I had to pay was so high that I could not do it over the phone – so I will be going to their offices to pay with the form in hand – just in case. That will be next week. We may get this moving soon, we can live with what we have as long as we do not need to heat up the whole house at the same time.

Doors – The sample door has still not arrived. We should be able to approve it towards the end of next week. They have confirmed installation of the front door for the 4th March and the interior doors on the 8th and 9th. Let’s see if they manage. I am not holding my breath – but we do need the front door in by the 8th at the latest.

Tiling – The outside stairs are basically finished. There are a few edging tiles which need to be replaced and as these edging tiles have been cut at an angle to follow the wall the kablan has ordered some 33cm tiles so that the tiles abutting the edge tiles line up correctly.

Handles – We confirmed, ordered and (just) collected our handles for our kitchen. As we struggled so much to find handles that we liked, we took the same handles for the vanity in the en-suite bathroom which is the only other place that we need handles.

Kitchen – After many calls and discussions between us, Tamar and Dany (the carpenter) the kitchen is almost completed. It will be installed on Wednesday. The carpenter has found a metal grill which can be painted white to put above the fridge and freezer which will look better than a big gap or a wooden trellis style cover.

Downstairs Kitchen – It was noticed that the high triple cupboard was made 7cm too wide. Tamar contacted the Kitchen company and they said they would shrink one cupboard to make it fit. Tamar refused saying it would look silly. They are now fixing the whole thing.

Kitchen Counters (shayish) – The shayish for the downstairs kitchen will be installed after the upstairs kitchen is completed so that the company providing the Caesar stone can correctly measure the upstairs kitchen for our counter tops at the same time.

Plumbing – We have ordered from the States a 220V waste disposal unit. It comes out with shipping and tax a little cheaper than the pre-tax price here. If bought here we would also have to pay for installation, but we are assuming that it will be installed by the Kablan now as part of his plumbing costs. If not – I will do it!

Paint – The ceilings are now looking good and first coats are going up on the walls. As they are doing 5 coats of paint I have no idea how much they have completed.

Hammock – We selected the natural rope (rather that a crass colour from a plastic cover on the rope) with black connectors used to hold it altogether. The rail to hold the hammock on the wall has been installed and needs to be painted. We think it is going to be black.

Network – It was suddenly noticed that all the cables for our hard-wired network came out in a small cupboard that was too small for a network hub. So we have devised a method to move the connectors over to our cloakroom cupboard and we will put the hub there instead. This has required a little shaping of the entrance and may require us to install an extra mezuza.

Furniture – We have ordered our sofas, ottoman and dining table. We still have to add the extra material and also a couple more ottomans that need to be made to measure. We have bought a couple of antique chairs that will be stained to match the walnut and will be re-uphostered with the same material as the sofa. These will be sitting in the corner of the lounge. We have found counter (bar) stools but have not ordered these yet as we are waiting for sample patches of material so that we can match them to the other furniture in the immediate vicinity.

Curtains – We met with Tamar in the curtain suppliers. We have made decisions of which style curtains/blinds we want in all of our windows. We selected a few fabrics and this is now on hold until the windows have been installed – hopefully the beginning of March.

I was ready to create a new blog on Sunday night – but decided to postpone as lots was planned in the house yesterday. I will start with the stairs – so you can see our steps in the right direction:

Tiling/Stairs – The second flight of outside stairs plus the steps between the upper and lower outside areas by our lounge have been completed. The bulk of outside tiling has now been completed. The only tile work left are some of the edges (inside and out), fixing of damaged exterior house stone and the grouting. For some reason, they have also tiled the area under where the fish tank will be going.

Sanding – The walls have been sanded down and they are now working on the niches and the areas for the lights. There have been points when it is has been impossible to walk into the property with the amount of dust in the air. My car is constantly dirty with white footprints where the dust had stuck to my shoes.

Painting – Our kitchen area had its first coat of paint. The colour (a light grey almost greige) is fantastic. The inside of the kitchen windows have been painted white. They have also started to paint the ceiling in white.

Kitchen – The carpenter came and did measurements, made comments and discussed changes with us. He finalised the already finalised plans and has started working on the kitchen. Now that the final plans have been put in – the team measured out all the plugs and gas points and decided to move a few slightly to better fit the kitchen. As we changed the toe kick from 12cm to 10cm we cannot put a cleaning robot within the toe kick anymore and therefore we have cables for an electrical plug that is not required. The toe kick is lower as we want the surface to be slightly lower than normal. This may make a future issue with dishwashers as all integrated dishwashers are designed to work with a 12cm toe kick, there are some which will work with 10cm but possibly not all of them. It will be left for a time when it may be needed. The carpenter also measured out the doors that he would be making plus the bathroom vanity cabinets as these are the bits that need to go in before we move in (at the end of March).

Basement Kitchen – This has now been installed. It was done by a kitchen company as they are cheaper than a good carpenter. The quality looks good, but I am not happy that the doors are lining up well enough. We spoke to the company and they said that they will tweak them once the counter top is in. As we have not ordered the counter tops yet, I am not sure when that will be.

Wardrobes – The wardrobes were measured yesterday and they will be installed at the beginning of March.

Furniture – We have decided on a Century table and sofas. We are just waiting on a price for some ottomans that we need to have built to fit. We are also not sure of the exact amount of spare material we need to order as we wish to re-upholster our existing dining chairs and we are waiting for the upholstery person to quote for us. We will order this as soon as we have the information. We decided not to get the counter stools from the states as the prices were just astronomical.

Beds – Exact measurements were taken for our headboard. This will be installed with the bed just before we move in.

Fireplace – The fireplace company came back to re-paint the rusty metal. I am hoping that this will solve the problem. We will find out when we start using it.

Lights – I collected all the lights and they are now being stored in our rented flat (apartment) so that they do not get damaged.

Doors – We are still waiting for the sample internal door. It may be delayed slightly as I heard that the person dealing with our order has just got up from sitting shiva. I wish him a long, healthy life.

Electricity – We now have an invoice for the change to the electricity – it is expensive! I tried to pay it this morning, but was told that I couldn’t as it hadn’t been opened for payment yet. We are also moving the electricity box to the front wall so that the electricity company can easily access it to take readings.

Railings – The interior stairway railings have been completed – but they are not being installed yet to protect them.
Most of the outside railings have been started, but we have asked them to hold off for the meantime on the front railing as we are moving the electricity box there. We are also making a space for the dustbin (garbage bin) and therefore do not want to do these railings until we know exactly what this area will look like. The railings company (A.Y.L.) are going to be doing a door for the dustbin as well.

Hammock – The railings guy knows someone who builds external play areas. We have received a quote and have ordered this today. We have requested a sample of the colour options for the hammock itself.

Design – As in every week, Tamar is the glue that holds everything together, makes the decisions that we request from her and keeps everything moving in the correct direction. Tamar is also taking us shopping tomorrow for curtains and possibly counter stools as well.

That’s all for now, we will do some shopping (or browsing) for the house on Friday morning as neither of us are working and the kids are in school. It will either be for the counter stools or possibly we will start looking at the bedding.

I have been meaning to write a post for a while but I have been brought low by a case of shingles and just haven’t felt up to it. I am unlucky to get it so young (40ish) but also very lucky that it was so mild – just extremely painful.

The last week has been a time of lots of quick changes and the house is now starting to come together. The update follows:

Hermetix Doors: They have been the bane of the last 2 weeks and we have decided that they are so bad that this post has been named for them. To start with, after originally confirming a price, admitting it was wrong (under-charged) but agreeing to go along with it – they suddenly decided that they were going to raise the price after all – by 1600NIS a door. Or to be more blunt over 18,000NIS (3,000 GBP or $5000). After being screamed at by Tamar our designer and Motti the owner of Sharoni’s that is the middle man for us (another great reason to use a designer) the price per door has only gone up by 325NIS. Motti at Sharoni has been great – as well as fighting for us – he is also taking on (without us requesting) 200NIS per door. Therefore we are paying 125NIS extra per door. We are not happy with this – but we are at a stage in the process where it would take us too much time to do anything else. Once again – do not buy doors from Hermetix – but do buy your tiles/bathroom suites etc from Motti at Sharoni.
Part 2 : The final measurement for the front door was taken by the kablan. Joelle chose the colour and added back the paneling. She agrees that the Hermetix aluminium paneling doesn’t look great – but it is a nicer finish than plain. Israeli external doors are all ugly as they have to be from metal as wood (apparently) does not stand up to the strong Israeli sun and has to be replaced every 2 or 3 years. With the price and hassle we have had with doors it is not feasible! They have promised us that the front door will be installed by the beginning of March when the tenants in the basement are planning to move in. They are also making another sample internal door for us to see before they start work on them.

Kablan: As well as the outside tiling, the Kablan has finished the vast majority of the walls. He just needs to sand them down before he can start painting them.

Mezzuzot: We collected the mezzuzot this week. They have been put away and we just have to find some appropriate cases for them.

Downstairs kitchen: This has been ordered from a kitchen shop. They have measured and will hopefully install it in about a fortnight. We forgot to order a splashback and so Tamar has ordered some tiles for us. We are not sure which ones but we trust her.

Carpentry: We decided on a carpenter (obviously the more expensive one as he does do better work), he has started measuring and will start work shortly on our kitchen and the bathrooms first – as we cannot move in to the house without them being finished. The rest of the work will be done afterwards.

Wardrobes: There were 3 wardrobes that we ordered separately to keep the price slightly lower. We did not get a discount even though I was not aware at the time of the additional delivery and installation charges. These will also be installed soon – before we move in.

Fireplace: We finally got the inserts for the fireplace. They were rusty and we complained. After two complaints from Tamar we finally have them agreeing to repair them (i.e. – repaint). Hopefully this will be enough as they are stored internally.

Electricity: The electricity company has come back to us and said that they cannot give us a 63×3 line as requested, but they will give us a 40×3 line. We are meeting them at the house in the middle of next week to finalise whatever is needed.

Garden: They have replaced the stairs from the pavement on the road up to the house, as well as completing the tiling in the front of our house and outside our bedroom. They have also started the tiling in the outside area next to the lounge.

Railings: The cheque that I gave was not accepted because I was still dating cheques in 2014. We wrote another one! The inside stair railings have been completely removed and the new ones will be ready in about 2 weeks time. In the meantime we have a very long and dangerous drop from the top of the house to the basement! The other work should be completed about 4 weeks later – they may or may not be done by the time we move in.

Large Hammock: The railings guy said he will probably be able to make for us the large hammock between the two play rooms.

Shopping:
Smoker: We have decided to buy ourselves the smoker from JJ Pits in the US after we showed the design to steel worker here and he suggested we would get a better product from someone who made these for a living.

Lights: All of our antique bronze lighting is now ready and is waiting for me to collect it once back in the office (They are based in Tel Aviv not far from Adam’s work)

Natanel’s Bed: We finally found an appropriate bed/desk combo by a company called Geza Ha-Etz. Natanel also approved it and it has been ordered.

Other Beds: Yesterday, we bought our bed, mattress and headboard as well as a Hi-Riser bed for guests (The one that we were planning on using has been usurped by a niece 🙂 ). We are using existing mattresses for the hi-riser and Natanel’s bed. Ya’akov will be using a small children’s bed that was Natanel’s when he was younger that we brought with from England.

Living Room: We have found a curved sofa and an Ottoman. We also found a couple of fancy dining chairs that we will be putting in the corner as extra seating. We have matched up the materials for all of these and ordered some extra material to be able to make a couple of small Ottomans as an integrated part of the sofa.

Dining Room: We will probably use the same material (as it is washable even with bleach!) to recover our existing dining room chairs that we wish to stain to match the American Walnut elsewhere in the house. We have found a few possible tables and we are waiting on prices as they come from the States (imported by the sofa guy).

That is all for now, we will put extra contact details (and remove Hermetix!) next week.

This last week was filled with mass hysteria because there was a snowstorm coming.
In fact Wednesday and Thursday the workers did not come (they told me in advance) and they are not coming today either.
Joelle and I both agree that the workers did not come due to the roads being closed. The issue is that the roads did not need to be closed at all! Joelle worked on Thursday and Friday in Ramot. Ramot is the entrance to Jerusalem for two of the main roads – the 1 and the 443. Both of which were closed (on and off) from Wednesday until Friday. In Ramot on Thursday there was no snow at all – the rain had already melted it (if there was any). On Friday it did snow whilst she was at work – but hardly even managed to settle at all. All this caused the country a major headache – the kids lots of fun as there was no school and parents a nightmare as they somehow found themselves losing 2 days of holiday from work which nobody can afford! And all of this over absolutely nothing.

Moan completed, it doesn’t actually affect us that much as the Kablan doesn’t have too much more to do before the windows are installed. So we have plenty of time. Let’s continue:

Windows : The windows have been built and are on the ship. They are expecting to be at the warehouse in Israel on the 20th February and we will be the first customer to have them installed. We should therefore have our windows completed just after the beginning of March.

Doors : Almost all measurements were taken and we are ready for the work to be started. There is one more measurement for the front door (The door measurement was not taken as some changes were needed in the work done by the Kablan)- and we need to decide on the final colour. The colour is possibly going to be linked to the railings as well. We will get there with this.

Outside Lights : We liked the outside lights that we looked at last week. We still prefer the smaller one – but understand that it will not give enough light. We will be mixing and matching the two sizes. The Kablan is happy that they will be safe outside even though they are not completely closed in. The electrics are impossible to reach by rain.

Railings : We have finalised on three different types of railings. One to be used inside (on the stairs), An open railing to be used outside in almost all areas and a single closed railing for one area between us and the basement area. Everything we chose is as simple (to look at – at least) as can be as we did not want anything that just “shouted” out to be looked at. The colours of most of this will be antique bronze. The stairs will have a wooden railing that is varnished an American Walnut colour.

Smoker/BBQ : We have found a bbq/smoker that we are thinking of buying from “Pits from JJ” but it is expensive to buy, ship and import. We have a couple of people (including the company making my railings) that will make a smoker to order. I have to decide what to do.

Wood : I continued chopping the wood – but somehow I managed to break the extremely hardy axe that I had bought. I will need to buy another one.

Mezzuzot : We have paid for our Mezzozot – and will be receiving them on Wednesday.

Carpentry : We have received quotes for our carpentry. We just have to confirm who is doing the work. Whoever we choose – this is an expensive part of the project!

Downstairs Kitchen : We still haven’t received the extra quotes for this kitchen.

Wardrobes : We have asked for a discount due to the extremely expensive fitting costs. We are waiting to hear back.

Natanel’s bed : We have seen something that is already made, we need to make time to go and have a look at it. The manufacturers/shop is somewhere near Yavne – I think.

Kablan : The kablan has completed plastering the main living area of the house. It looks good! He still has to smooth down some of the areas though. He has also continued with the spot lights. We have also chosen the final grout colour for the wooden floors.

Fireplace : We still haven’t collected the inside of the fireplace. Joelle will do it soon when she has a break from work.

Moldings : We ordered, paid for and received the moldings. They are currently in storage (in the loft) awaiting installation.

Shopping : We started looking at more depth into bar stools, sofas, coffee tables and dining tables. We will soon be ready to start some directed shopping from the on-line research that we have done.

We have a deadline of 29th March to be in the house (even if not fully completed) as that is when we have lots of friends staying for Pesach. We have no space for even one person in our small apartment that we are staying in at the moment! We are praying that we will make it.

For both of us we are in the “busiest” time of work. For Joelle the kids are all sick now and yes it is urgent to see them 20 minutes after the end of the clinic as he/she has been ill for at least three days when we didn’t bother to bring them….. For me it is the end of the year and everyone is busy making sure that their departments have every bit of information required for their year-end reporting. If there are system issues then I wouldn’t have time to think. Luckily everything has gone smoothly – and yesterday was the quietest day I have had in the whole year. Everyone was too busy to bother me!

Even though we are both busy at work – the house is coming along in leaps and bounds. I hardly know where to start. Let’s start with the thing nearest my heart – food 🙂

The smoker – I just could not get in touch with Lang, the more that I looked the more that I saw they had a name for very poor customer service and also for poor looking (but effective) welds on the less important areas of the smoker. So I decided to look further afield and at the moment I am in touch with a company called “Pits by JJ” and am hoping that I can work something out with them. Talking of smokers – I smoked ribs for the first time yesterday and it was one of the nicest and messiest meals that I have ever started a fast on! I even have left overs for supper tonight!

The garden – moving slowly inward. This is the area that has made the most movement over the last two weeks. All the outside tiling and stone areas have been prepared. This includes whitewashing plus the creation of concrete bases etc The two flower beds for the climbing plants in the social area have been built – and look great. We have decided on the stone that we wish to use for the natural stone we are using for the stairs and the area near to the entrance of the house. We have designed how we are doing the stairs. We have also started to speak about lighting of the garden stairs and also about fences and handrails for safety. This week we also took home 10 tangerines (many more left on tree) and have to pick the pomelos as well to promote extra growth. It can be a shabbat treat.

Outside lighting – I have samples of the two possible lights (they are identical but different sizes) and we need to look at them and confirm if they work for us. They are technically not waterproof – but the only way they will get wet by the electrics is through someone spraying them with water from underneath. The kablan is happy with them from a water perspective as well.

Wood – I have started to chop up the wood in a way that will be more useful to us. It is hard work as it hasn’t really dried out enough yet. I am also starting to move it into a place that is out of the way.

Railings / Fencing – Two different suppliers came to the house yesterday to show off the options that they have as well as measure to quote for the work we need. Outside we need some kind of front fence which will also be used as a separation of two different garden areas. This really is an issue as we do not like any of the options that we have been shown in either steel or aluminium. In Israel, wood is really not an ideal but we may need to use it as that is all we really like. If we do go for wood I am not looking forward to the maintenance. We also have railings on the stairs and by any drops. We will need a grill to cover an “English Window” as well as one patio window as well.

Garage – We do not wish to have a garage door and we do not have planning permission for it, so we have ordered an automatic parking barrier which will stop others using our garage. It is a small thing that will drop on the to the floor whenever we wish to park – and will stay up when the garage is empty.

Outside doors – the space for the outside French door has been finished. We started looking at doors (more about this later) and we are really struggling with the main front door. We just do not like the outside doors that are available. All the aluminium ones are as ugly as hell – and the wooden ones just will not last due to the heat.

Inside doors – We had a meeting with Hermetix at the beginning of the week where we confirmed everything that we ordered. We confirmed the door designs, chose the colours and locking mechanisms. We also selected a door handle but do not like the handles they have on option – we are going to look for a different option from the shops. All the Hermetix doors will be measured next week.

Inside railings – the guys that are doing the quote for the outside fences/railings will also be giving us a quote for the stair railings. These are going to be the simplest possible. We do not want anything that looks too fancy.

Wardrobes – We ordered the boys and our wardrobes last week. When I got home I realised that I am supposed to pay an additional payment for delivery/installation of over 10% of the build cost. Considering we are buying fitted cupboards I was not happy with this and I complained. I am awaiting a response through Tamar about this.

Interior design – talking of Tamar, she is keeping everything moving, arranging meetings and specialists to come, nagging us to make decisions and look at different options. We still do not know where she finds enough hours in the day to do everything.

Natanel’s bed – we went to one store in Talpiot but their beds were too low and looked so babyish. We wish to put a desk underneath and so it will need to have a reasonable height.

Carpentry – quotes have gone out to a couple of carpenters. We have a partial quote back from one, but we are still waiting on this – one of the most important (read expensive) areas of the project.

Kitchen – we now have a quote for a kitchen in the basement. We are waiting on another two so we have not seen it yet. We want this (and the other carpentry) to be in before the windows.

Bathroom glass – our glass person came yesterday and we realised that the glass door in our en-suite will actually hit the shower head if it is opened inwards. As we have rain showers we are not worried about water spraying too high and so we have dropped the height of the glass slightly. We had a big discussion about the shower in the kids bathroom and I said that we are staying with a double door for the boys. We do not think there is enough space if we have a single door as it is being used on a bath and not a shower.

Bathroom – There is an access panel for the air conditioning unit that was included in our bathroom that I never even knew was needed. It looks really cool and has been nicely done.

Kablan – The kablan has continued with all the tasks. Finishing off the window spaces, testing grout with our tiles (we still have to make one choice), preparing the walls for painting, electricity, completion of interior tiling and the tiling of the front upper mirpeset (balcony) amongst other things that I may not have even noticed.

Fireplace – The base that we will be using for building our fire on has been completed – I need to go and collect that early next week.

Shopping – Some extra meaty crockery has just come in that I need to collect which will allow us to take our every day numbers up to 10 place sittings. We have ordered and received some bedding, rugs, cushion, pillowcases and a clock from the Man City football team website shop to decorate Natanel’s room. The actual items were reasonably priced, but the delivery and import duties/tax doubled the price.